Billy Collins Writing In The Afterlife Analysis

The title of this poem is what caught my eye when I was searching through the book trying to decide which poem to write about. “Writing In The Afterlife” by Billy Collins is a poem that had a certain sound and feel that stood out to me. Every night before I go to bed I think about my life and all of the people who are involved in it. I think about my parents lives and meaningful they are to me and that I would be lost without them. Then I think about my own life and how meaningful it is to them. Very often I think about the afterlife. My Catholic Faith teaches me that if I am a good person who does not sin then I will go to Heaven.
Collins does not use the word Heaven when he is talking about life after death. “I imagined the atmosphere would
be clear, shot with pristine light” In this phrase he is talking about what he expected the afterlife to be like. Many believe that the afterlife will be like living on top of the clouds, surrounded by blue skies and rays of sun. Collins then goes on describing what he sees as a “sulfurous haze, the air ionized as before a thunderstorm.” He presents this poem in a friendly tone, but I believe that this poem is passive aggressively directed at the people who believe in religion. This poems content is made up of nine stanzas comprised of four lines each, except for the final two lines of the poem which are in a stanza of their own. This poem relates to all of the people who are wondering what happens after you die.